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When the title “Ayatollah” is mentioned, most people outside the international relations and world politics community will imagine the Islamic Republic of Iran. After all, the two well-known “ayatollahs” all came from Iran. First, Ayatollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic in 1979 and current Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. So why did the Pope choose to hire the relatively lesser-known Ayatollah Ali Sistani and Iraq? I got to know more about the politically reserved religious leader during my literature review while researching sectarian conflicts in the Middle East about five years ago..
The main reason the Pope decided to visit Iraq, as has been widely reported, was to engage the authorities in a process of building confidence that could eventually lead to the country’s Christian population in obtaining some protection. . Iraq has one of the oldest Christian communities in the world that predates Islam. Located in a predominantly Islamic country, they have constantly faced political, economic and social isolation. In recent years, when the Islamic State was formed, the group was among those most affected. As a religious leader and technically head of state, the Pope decided not only to engage his political counterpart in Iraq, but to project his spiritual leadership into uncharted territory by meeting with an equally important religious leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali. al Sistani.
Ali al Sistani was the religious leader par excellence to meet if the Pope were to meet one in the region. While Iraq remains a Muslim-dominated country, the country’s majority sect is Shia. Conservative figures put the world’s population of Shia Islam at one-fifth of the total number of Muslims. But in Iraq, the sect constitutes more than 60% of the population. The Ayatollah is the sect’s oldest or most influential cleric in the country. In other words, spiritually, he represents the majority of Iraqis. So according to the numbers in Iraq, he is the best point of contact for the best possible outcome.
Ayatollah Sistani belongs to what has been called the quietist school of Shia Islamic scholarship which does not take active official positions in politics. He has largely acted as an interventionist in domestic politics and as an intermediary for peace between rival political factions. After the invasion of Iraq, he called for a democratic transition process. He was virtually “lecturing” the United States on democracy. His disinterest in assuming a political position unlike the Ayatollahs in Iran placed him above partisan politics and therefore earned him respect in the region. In a 2005 New York Times opinion piece, Thomas Freidman suggested that al Sistani be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. It was from an American. Liberals in Iran who do not support the open participation of clerics in politics have a great deal of respect for him. True, his stance on politics has not been unopposed within the Shiite sect inside and outside Iraq, but he is generally accepted as a rare pacifist by observers in the region.
Despite the fact that Al Sistani was originally from Iran (a non-Arab state), his long stay in Iraq, an Arab republic granted him great influence over the Shia Arabs in the region. It has adherents in Syria and Lebanon, two states with large Christian minorities with similar challenges to Iraq. With the Shiites controlling governments in Iraq and Syria and wielding significant political power in Lebanon, the Pope met with the right-wing cleric for the occasion. Certainly, Iran has political influence over al Assad and Hezbollah, but al Sistani’s influence transcends politics because it does not come with any political conditions. In religious scholarship, he is often placed above Ayatollah Khamenei of Iran. Some argue that Iran’s supreme leader largely inherited the title of Ayatollah without the level of scholarship necessary to rise to the top. full transnational legitimacy. This invaluable asset is what the Vatican seeks to use to preserve its history in the region.
By choosing to engage al Sistani, the Vatican has cleverly avoided upsetting governments in the region who might view such sectarian recognition as offensive. The Middle East presents a delicate diplomatic environment, even for the most discreet diplomats. By meeting with a sectarian leader, it was possible to strike some nerves, especially among Sunni-led governments and monarchies. However, al-Sistani’s relative tolerance and soft political stance are more likely to limit this malaise and possible backlash from his sectarian rivals. In fact, CNN reported in 2020 that it issued a religious ruling in 2013 banning the shedding of “Sunni blood” – a progressive movement in a country of bloody sectarian clashes. Al-Sistani’s independence from Iranian influence therefore earned him respect, if not recognition across different sects, which made him a diplomatic gem for the papacy.
The first optical successes of the Pope’s visit will not, however, come without subsequent challenges. The persecution of Christian minorities across the region has not started recently, so it would take time for real change to take hold. More importantly, Ayatollah’s influence, like others of a similar nature, exists as long as he lives – he is ninety years old. In addition, there are other powerful sects in the region, such as the Sunnis, who do not share the teachings and warnings of the religious leader despite their esteem for him. Sunnis form the majority of the international Muslim population and an influential group in Iraq where they had ruled for a long time until Saddam’s ouster in 2003. In Syria, Sunnis are in fact the majority in the country despite Shiite (Alawite ). of the government. There are also extremist groups that are beyond the control of legitimate political and religious actors in the region. Remnants of the Islamic State and Al Qaeda still roam the geography. These dynamics and factors will mean more commitments on the part of the Vatican at the very local level to encourage more accommodation of the Christian communities it seeks to protect.
With so much tension in the world, many of which have religious foundations, the current engagement of Grand Ayatollah Ali al Sistani by the Pope is a good example for others to follow. His disinterest in partisan politics, his influence over Shia adherents across states, and his general tolerance made him the right religious leader that the Pope could ever engage in his program of protecting the Church’s heritage. In the region. The Vatican should, however, extend its tentacles of engagement to other sects – because Ayatollah has its limits.
Image source: map, lib.utexas.edu
By: Fidel Amakye Owusu
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